God's Image: Our True Identity

God formed us in his image — a glorious thought! — but we all participate in the abandonment of that original identity…Does that mean that your precious little child is a dirty rotten sinner, as some theologians might say? Certainly not. That would be another adventure in missing the point. As the venerable old Heidelberg Catechism puts it, “God created them [children] good and in his own image” (Q.& A. 6).

But yes, every child is somehow caught up in the great mystery of the world’s corruption: we are born into an…